Five tips to help develop a user-friendly eCommerce website

In this hyper-social era, almost every business that offers tangible products has already registered its presence in the world of e-commerce. However, a very ignorable percentage of companies consider making improvements to the website for increasing their sales numbers. Why shouldn’t one think about implementing simple changes that cost $100, but can grow the site’s business by $1000?

Ecommerce portal can help in improving brand reputation only if it manages to attract, engage visitors and convinces them to come back for buying something else later. Here’re five aspects about the website that businesses should never ignore for creating a loyal customers base.

1> Product description needs to be concise and detailed

Buyers prefer to know everything about the product that they wish to buy. In case if the e-commerce site lacks product details, the visitor might prefer to opt for another website that offers complete, precise product description. Thus, every business administrator should put himself/herself in consumer’s shoes and check if important features, images, color options are explicitly mentioned on the product page.

Give priority to product information, followed by essential specifications, and a good decent sized image for the item.

Unfortunately, most of the e-commerce portals end up posting a standard product description and images, perhaps, supplied by the product manufacturer. To keep the customer engaged, it is advisable to publish unique, plagiarism free product description. This is crucial from the SEO- Search Engine Optimization point-of-view as well because even a small percentage of plagiarized text content can reduce the website’s rankings.

2> Ease of navigation

Several studies have already proved that the site’s feel and look create the first impression of the business. Lack of user-friendliness and poor theme not only makes shopping difficult for the buyers but can also trigger a sense of mistrust in shopper’s mind.

A considerable percentage of traffic on websites comes from mobile internet-powered devices these days. The portal’s theme needs to be responsive and mobile friendly to make sure visitors using mobile browsers get a great experience.

Users prefer registering and buying on sites that offer relatively easy navigation. Thus, the links for various categories need to be visible on each page. Visitors should get the option (buttons) to return to the homepage or the shopping cart on every page.

Prospects often feel frustrated when the e-commerce site’s search option fails to show the relevant results for the entered keywords. Such unreliable search engines can prove to be disastrous, especially, if you offer a wide range of products. Opt for AI-powered recommendation engine so that consumers would get recommendations for appropriate products on each page as well as in the search results. You can get the best AI systems implemented on your site with the help of reputed ecommerce development solution providers.

3> Shopping cart should have the best features

The cart page layout should be simple, and the information about products added should be visible clearly. Checkout button should be big enough and prominently displayed.

Special discounts and cashback offer often play an essential part in motivating shopaholics to buy more. Thus, the cart page should also have the option for customers to enter promotional discount codes. Consumers should also be able to increase, decrease product quantity and select shipping options.

The cart must offer multiple payment options, including PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and bank transfer. Buyers appreciate the websites that provide five or more payment options. The shopping cart must automatically calculate and display additional taxes as well as shipping charges that apply to the bill.

Remember, the cart icon needs to be visible on all the pages so that visitors can check the items that they have added.

4> Offer multiple customer service options along with chatbots

During various stages of shopping, website visitors might come across doubts or questions that they need an answer for before completing the purchase. Prospect might abort the cart and leave the website if he or she is unable to find live chat support to get the query resolved.

Experts suggest every ecommerce portal must offer 24*7 email, telephone, and live chat support to its customers. Ideally, emails from the customers need to be answered within two hours from receiving the same. However, doing the same may not be possible due to the lack of human resource in customer service teams. Thus, these days, many websites deploy chatbots. It is a program that is powered by Artificial Intelligence technology and trained by agents to answer all the necessary queries raised by the customers from the query keywords that they enter.

Unfortunately, even the website forms filled by prospects remain unattended for more than 48 hours and by the time the sales team calls back, the prospect has already purchased the desired product. Studies have also proved that implementing chatbots can help in improving sales conversion rate because queries do not remain unattended.

Chatbot can be perfect to take care of buyers’ queries while there is no one available in the customer service team. Offering such customer service would help in creating a good impression of the company. Any of the experienced custom eCommerce development solutions providers can assist you with details about various chat bots available.

5> Implement the best security solutions

Security, privacy, and purchase protection related tabs should be visible on the home page. Along with the user-friendliness, safety is the most focused parameter from the customer’s point of view. SSL certificate is a must to gain visitor’s confidence. E-commerce sites must comply with the local data protection regulations when it comes to handling consumer’s confidential information. For example, websites operating in the UK need to meet the GDPR guidelines.

Opt for PCI compliant hosting service, AVS (Address Verification System), PCI scans and updates, and multi-layered security to protect the website from phishing attacks as well as credit card fraud.

Of course, every e-commerce site also needs to have its mobile application. It is advisable to implement the same security solutions on the mobile app as well.